FILMS
The 2019 Feature film lineup screened May 30th – June 2nd, 2019.
Opening Night – THE DEAD DON’T DIE
US Premiere
Dir. Jim Jarmusch | 2019 | Sweden/USA | 103 min
Adam Driver and Bill Murray lead an all-star cast in indie maven Jim Jarmusch’s latest film, the story of the peaceful town of Centerville that finds itself battling a zombie horde as the dead start rising from their graves. Guests In Attendance
Centerpiece – COME TO DADDY
Dir. Ant Timpson | 2019 | USA, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland | 92 min
Norval, a troubled young man travels to a small seaside town to answer a letter from his long-lost father. When he gets there, the two begin to reconnect, but Norval can’t shake the feeling that something is drastically off. Elijah Wood stars in this hilarious and terrifying twisty thrill ride, the directorial debut of lauded horror producer Ant Timpson. Guests In Attendance
Closing Night – THE LODGE
Dir. Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz | 2019 | UK/USA | 100 min
When a stepmom-to-be gets snowed in to a remote cabin alongside her fiancé’s two children, she finds herself with the seemingly perfect opportunity to win their affection. But a series of strange occurrances may lead the trio down a different path…
BLISS
Dir. Joe Begos | 2019 | USA | 75 min
Reminiscent of the gritty work of Abel Ferrara, Joe Begos’ (ALMOST HUMAN, THE MIND’S EYE) latest sees a ferocious young painter, desperate to finish her latest masterpiece, who will resort to any means necessary. Little does she know that sex, drugs and hallucinations are just the top of the spiral… Guests In Attendance
DACHRA
Dir. Abdelhamid Bouchnak | 2018 | Tunisia | 113 min
When a trio of Tunisian journalism students hubristically journey to a small town to solve the 25-year-old cold case of a mysteriously mutilated woman now committed to an asylum, they come upon a community packed with well-spiced secrets.
DANIEL ISN’T REAL
Dir. Adam Egypt Mortimer | 2019 | USA | 96 min
When a distraught college freshman faces an unimaginable family trauma, he turns to his sadistic imaginary friend from childhood for help, hoping to unleash some long-forgotten strength. What he friends instead will alter his life forever in this mind-altering new film from director Adam Egypt Mortimer. Guests In Attendance
DEPRAVED
Dir. Larry Fessenden | 2019 | USA | 114 min
Heralded genre-bender Larry Fessenden returns with his millennial take on the Frankenstein myth in which a PTSD-riddled field surgeon deep in the heart of Brooklyn decides to reconstruct an unsuspecting man out of spare body parts. Followed by a live recording of the Post-Mortem Podcast with Mick Garris featuring Fessenden as his guest.
EXTRA ORDINARY
Dir. Mike Ahern, Enda Loughman | 2019 | Ireland/Belgium | 93 min
A driving instructor with an unusual talent for communicating with the spirit world, is enlisted to help save an innocent teenager from a washed-up rock star who has made a sinister deal with the devil in this uproarious and sweet-natured Irish comedy, starring Will Forte.
THE FACULTY
Dir. Robert Rodriguez | 1998 | USA | 104 min
Join us for this special, site-specific screening of Robert Rodriguez’s 1998 chiller about a group of high school students who begin to suspect an extraterrestrial presence when their teachers start behaving out of the ordinary. Followed by a Q&A with Rodriguez and star Elijah Wood.
GIRL ON THE THIRD FLOOR
Dir. Travis Stevens | 2019 | USA | 93 min
WWE legend Phil “CM Punk” Brooks stars Don Koch, an expectant father dead set on renovating his newly purchased Victorian home, a project that could see him not only giving in to old temptations, but uncovering the darkest secrets of the house itself. Guests In Attendance
GREENER GRASS
Dir. Jocelyn DeBoer, Dawn Luebbe | 2019 | USA | 101 min
Writers, directors and stars Jocelyn DeBooer and Dawn Luebbe create a hilariously deadpan hellscape of competitive suburbia with a boldly stylized absurdist chain of events that unfurls with increasing fervor after one soccer mom asks her best friend for her baby. Guests In Attendance
GWEN
US Premiere
Dir. William McGregor | 2018 | UK | 84 min
In the stunning and stark setting of 19th century Snowdonia, young Gwen must brave the harsh elements, the threat of disease, an aggressive mining company, and hostile villagers–but the signs of something more sinister are undeniable in this haunting feature debut from writer-director William McGregor.
HEAD COUNT
Dir. Elle Callahan | 2018 | USA | 90 min
A group of rowdy teenagers take a weekend trip to Joshua Tree in search of debauchery, only to find themselves part of deadly ritual when they realize that they might not all be who they seem.
HORROR NOIRE: A HISTORY OF BLACK HORROR
Dir. Xavier Burgin | 2018 | USA | 83 min
Join us for a free community screening and panel discussion of this refreshing and incisive documentary tracing the history of Black Americans in Hollywood within the horror genre. Hear from Jordan Peele (GET OUT), Tony Todd (CANDYMAN), Rachel True (THE CRAFT), Keith David (THE THING) and many more about representation in our favorite genre from the beginning of cinema to today. Free community screening. Guests In Attendance
IN FABRIC
Dir. Peter Strickland | 2018 | UK | 119 min
At the height of winter sales in a modern UK department stores, a cursed dress passes from owner to owner, leaving a path of destruction in its wake in this wry, visionary comedy from the director of BERBARIAN SOUND STUDIO and THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY.
KNIVES AND SKIN
Dir. Jennifer Reeder | 2019 | USA | 111 min
Calling upon echoes of TWIN PEAKS, artist and filmmaker Jennifer Reeder serves up an eerie teen noir punctuated with haunting 80s covers and unforgettable imagery centering around the effects of one girls’ disappearance on a small town. Guests In Attendance
MA
Dir. Tate Taylor | 2019 | USA | 102 min
Oscar winner Octavia Spencer stars as Sue Ann, a loner in a quiet town who invites a group of unsuspecting teenagers to hang out and drink in her basement. They just have to abide by her rules, and call her “Ma.” But as Ma’s hospitality starts to curdle into obsession, what began as a teenage dream turns into a terrorizing nightmare, and Ma’s place goes from the best place in town to the worst place on earth.
NIGHTMARE CINEMA
Dir. Alejandro Brugués, Ryûhei Kitamura, David Slade, Joe Dante, Mick Garris | 2018 | USA/Japan/Argentina | 119 min
Five Masters of the macabre unite to re-invigorate the anthology sub-genre with a jolt of bloodlust in this good old fashioned series of thrills and chills stitched together by Mickey Rourke’s Projectionist, who shows woeful passerbys a movie of their gruesome demise, helmed by a cavalcade of horror’s greatest minds. Guests In Attendance
ONE CUT OF THE DEAD
Dir. Shinichiro Ueda | 2017 | Japan | 96 min
In one of the year’s most crowd-pleasing surprises, this twisty horror comedy sees chaos ensue when a low-budget film crew, hard at work on a zombie flick in a WWII bunker, comes face to face with real terror lurking outside.
PARADISE HILLS
Dir. Alice Waddington | 2019 | USA/Spain | 95 min
With razor-sharp artistic direction and searing wit, Alice Waddington’s directorial debut tells the story in which a young girl is sent to a mysterious reform school specializing in crafting ladies to be more “proper.” Guests In Attendance
PORNO
Dir. Keola Racela | 2019 | USA | 98 min
Equal parts hilarious and grotesque, this take-no-prisoners horror sex comedy sees a group of ultra-Christian movie theater employees face their worst fears when a mysterious set of pornographic reels releases a little more than their repressed desires. Guests In Attendance
RED 11
Dir. Robert Rodriguez | 2019 | USA | 77 min
The iconic director of EL MARIACHI returns to low budget filmmaking with the story of an aspiring filmmaker who is forced to become a human lab rat after inadvertently borrowing cash from the Mexican cartel to make his first film. Once he test trials begin, he discovers that a sinister truth of this medical study… one that he may never escape from. Preceded by a special presentation of The Robert Rodriguez Film School. Guests In Attendance
SATANIC PANIC
World Premiere
Dir. Chelsea Stardust | 2019 | USA | 80 min
When a pizza delivery girls’ final order of the night turns out to be for a blood-hungry group of Satanists thirsting for a sacrifice, all hell breaks loose…literally. From the Overlook alum writers of WE ARE STILL HERE and PAPERBACKS FROM HELL, and director Chelsea Stardust comes the goriest of comedies. Guests In Attendance
SWAMP THING
Dir. Len Wiseman | 2019 | USA | 92 min
Based on the classic DC Comics character, this new episodic series follows Dr. Abby Arcane’s investigation of a deadly swamp-born virus in a small town in Louisiana… but when a mysterious creature emerges from the murky marsh, Abby finds herself facing the nightmares of a supernatural world where no one is safe. Join us for this special screening of the first two episodes. Guests In Attendance
THE VAST OF NIGHT
Dir. Andrew Patterson | 2019 | USA | 91 min
First-time filmmaker Andrew Patterson smashes onto the scene with the elegant telling of a 1950s radio DJ and his switchboard operator companion, who stumble upon a strange frequency that may be carrying evidence of other-worldly life. Guests In Attendance
Z
World Premiere
Dir. Brandon Christensen | 2019 | USA | 83 min
Loving parents Beth and Kevin get a little more than they bargained for when their eight-year-old son begins acting out at the alleged behest of his new imaginary friend, Z, in this jump-a-minute creepfest from Overlook alum Brandon Christensen (STILL/BORN). Guests In Attendance
SHORTS PROGRAM 1
Presented By ALTER
BOYS’ CLUB Dir. Troy DeWinne | 2018 | USA | 9 min
IT’S NOT CUSTARD Dir. Kate McCoid | 2019 | UK | 6 min
DEEP TISSUE Dir. Meredith Alloway | 2019 | USA | 9 min
MANNEQUINS Dir. David Malcolm | 2018 | UK | 7 min
VALERIO’S DAY OUT Dir. Michael Arcos | 2019 | USA | 8 min
POSSESSIONS Dir. Zeke Farrow | 2019 | USA | 17 min
NOSE NOSE NOSE EYES! Dir. Jiwon Moon | 2017 | South Korea | 14 min
MONTANA, GA Dir. Ryan Dickie | 2019 | USA | 10 min
SUICIDE BY SUNLIGHT Dir. Nikyatu Jusu | 2019 | USA | 17 min
SHORTS PROGRAM 2
Presented By ALTER
CHOWBOYS: AN AMERICAN FOLKTALE Dir. Astron-6: Adam Brooks, Conor Sweeney, Matthew Kennedy, Jeremy Gillespie, Steve Kostanski | 2019 | Canada | 9 min
BRONZED Dir. Mike Egan | 2019 | USA | 12 min
HER BODY Dir. Juan Avella | 2018 | USA/Mexico | 10 min
THE RAT Dir. Carlen May-Mann | 2019 | USA | 13 min
UNDER COVERS Dir. Michaela Olsen | 2019 | USA | 7 min
MALACOSTRACA Dir. Charles A. Pieper | 2018 | USA | 16 min
THE OBLITERATION OF THE CHICKENS Dir. Izzy Lee | 2019 | USA | 3 min
PREY Dir. Bill Whirity | 2019 | USA | 5 min
MAW Dir. Jasper Vrancken | 2018 | Belgium | 20 min
SPECIAL EVENTS
The Overlook’s 2019 special event lineup of Virtual Reality, Live Shows and exclusive immersive performances was presented May 30th – June 2nd, 2019.
CAMPFIRE CREEPERS: MIDNIGHT MARCH
Virtual Reality Experience
Director: Alexandre Aja
Filmmaker Alexandre Aja (HIGH TENSION) and VR horror impresarios Dark Corner Studios team up for a series of grisly campfire tales in this spooky series. Both fun and fatal, their latest innovation finds some unfortunate campers in the midst of a full moon…Available exclusively for All-Access and Platinum Immersive Pass holders in the Kickstarter Lounge.
FIRE ESCAPE
Virtual Reality Experience
Directors: Navid Khonsari, Vassiliki Khonsari, Andres Perez-Duarte, Sam Butin
From virtual powerhouse iNKStories comes a cutting-edge VR adventure that blurs the line between game, film, and episodic storytelling all while creating something entirely new. In the grand tradition of Hitchcock’s Rear Window, participants become the ultimate voyeur as they are thrust into a world of deceit and murder via text, chat and immersive audio all within your headset in this thrilling three-part interactive series. Available exclusively for All-Access and Platinum Immersive Pass holders.
GYMNASIA
Virtual Reality Experience
Directors: Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski
Step into a dream, where the ghostly ephemera of a lost childhood await you in the latest vision from Felix & Paul Studios and the National Film Board of Canada. Available exclusively for All-Access and Platinum Immersive Pass holders in the Kickstarter Lounge
HOME OF ENCHANTMENTS
Immersive Performance
World Premiere
Creator: Ava Lee Scott
What you see cannot be unseen in this world premiere experience from immersive veteran Ava Lee Scott (SLEEP NO MORE) set in the world of her very own supernatural series, where what you see is never what you get. You are called upon to help the spiritually gifted, yet troubled Belle, her memory blurred between the material and spiritual realms. You must help her discover her true path, but are you willing to risk your own? WARNING: Only the strong, spirited souls are allowed. Available exclusively for All-Access and Platinum Immersive Pass holders
THE HORROR OF BUILDING IMMERSIVE WORLDS
Panel
What makes horror such a rich environment for immersive storytelling? Where does this burgeoning form go from here? Join creators from the festival’s exciting immersive lineup along with boundary-pushing local luminaries for the Overlook’s annual lively discussion of all things interactive.
Panelists: Lady Delaney (The Mystery Of The Tiny Tombs), Vassiliki Khonsari (iNKStories), Daniel Montgomery (JFI Productions), Andrew Preble (Escape My Room). Moderated by Noah Nelson (No Proscenium). Free To All Attendees
HORROR NOIRE DISCUSSION
Panel
Join us immediately following the free community screening of Shudder’s fantastic new documentary HORROR NOIRE: A HISTORY OF BLACK HORROR and stay for a special panel presentation with some of the film’s creators, moderated by Darcy McKinnon (NOVAC).
Panelists:
Ashlee Blackwell, producer and co-writer, Horror Noire; creator, Graveyard Shift Sisters
Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman, PhD, executive producer, Horror Noire; associate dean and professor, Communication Studies, University of Michigan
Tananarive Due, executive producer, Horror Noire; author and professor of Afrofuturism, UCLA
HORROR TRIVIA
Free Event
Test your fright. Shudder’s Sam Zimmerman & Fangoria’s Phil Nobile, Jr team up to host Overlook’s annual bout of horror trivia. Prizes, drinks and four ghoulish rounds of only mildly obscure nuggets you’ll definitely know and all of those sequel subtitles you’ll definitely wish you didn’t.
THE OVERLOOK IMMERSIVE GAME
Immersive Performance
Creators: E3W Productions, Eva Anderson, Eric Hoff, Tommy Honton
Dive into a city-wide alternate reality experience that coincides with the Overlook Horror Film Festival. The game features live actors, unique locations, hidden clues, tactile puzzles, and surprising story twists that keep players on their toes while they explore the underbelly of New Orleans. Willing players will follow clues to become the protagonist of an engaging and thrilling narrative that no two people will interact with in exactly the same way. Details of the game’s story will remain locked away until the festival begins, but curious hearts might trouble themselves to seek significant special symbols wherever the opportunity presents itself. Available exclusively for All-Access and Platinum Immersive Pass holders
PAPERBACKS FROM HELL II: THINK OF THE CHILDREN (WORK-IN-PROGRESS)
Live Show
Creator, Writer, Performer: Grady Hendrix
It’s baaaack! Grady Hendrix’s live show, Paperbacks from Hell, has played everywhere from Los Angeles to London, and now you’re getting the world premiere of his work in progress sequel, Paperbacks from Hell II: Think of the Children. In 1967, S.E. Hinton kicked off the teen fiction genre with THE OUTSIDERS and that genre turned into a money-making boom in 1997 with J.K. Rowling’s HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE. But for those 30 intervening years, teen fiction was weirder, wilder, and woollier, than anyone remembers. Come learn about Ayn Randian teen books, time traveling wilderness survival novels, drug scare fiction, and the glory that is Christopher Pike in this one hour show that takes you from the roots of teen fiction to the day a boy wizard taught everybody how to get rich.
POST-MORTEM PODCAST WITH MICK GARRIS LIVE
Live Show
Host: Mick Garris
Filmmaker/Author Mick Garris, best known for his Stephen King adaptations and creating the “Masters Of Horror” television series, dives deep into the devious minds of the greatest filmmakers and creators of your worst nightmares to bring their distinctive visions to life. Join him live at the festival with his guest, indie horror maestro Larry Fessenden immediately following our special screening of Fessenden’s newest film DEPRAVED.
THE PUMPKIN PIE SHOW: ONE-ON-ONES
Immersive Performance
Creator, Writer, Performer: Clay McLeod Chapman
A returning favorite from last year’s fest, please join author Clay McLeod Chapman as he takes one audience member at a time on a dark ride through this depraved, intimate storytelling experience. Think of it as a heart-to-bleeding-heart with madmen, murderers and monsters telling their own story. No fourth wall, no escape. Available exclusively for All-Access and Platinum Immersive Pass holders
THE ROBERT RODRIGUEZ FILM SCHOOL WITH RED 11
Live Show
Host: Robert Rodriguez
The Robert Rodriguez Film School is a masterclass in low budget filmmaking. In 60 minutes, the iconic filmmaker of EL MARIACHI, SIN CITY, and GRINDHOUSE shows how he made his new film, RED 11, on a $7K budget, immediately followed by a special screening of the film itself, the story of an aspiring filmmaker who is forced to become a human lab rat after inadvertently borrowing cash from the Mexican cartel to make his first film. Once the test trials begin, he discovers a sinister truth of this medical study… one that he may never escape from.
ROOM SERVICE
Immersive Performance
Creators: Justin Fix, Daniel Montgomery, David Ruzicka, Stephanie Turek, Kylee Thurman, Stephanie Delazeri
Knock, knock! From JFI Productions, the heralded creators of the ever-popular immersive productions CREEP and THE WILLOWS comes an intimate immersive experience delivered to your door. A turn-down service like no other, let the Creeps put you to bed with a twisted bedtime tale: the story of a salesman and his scream-catching briefcase. Watch and listen as it comes to life, right in front of you. Call the front desk to reserve your room service – and then wait for the knock. Available exclusively for All-Access and Platinum Immersive Pass holders
SAINTSBONE
Immersive Performance
World Premiere
Creator: DeLaporte Ventures
Explore the French Quarter, meet ghosts, solve puzzles, and save us all from chaos in this feature-length collaboration between DeLaporte Adventures and local favorites Escape My Room, launching at the Overlook. When the last surviving member of the Saintsbone society, protectors of the living in New Orleans, is found dead, the only thing stopping the spirit world from merging with ours forever…is you. Available for All-Access and Platinum Immersive Pass holders.
UNSPOOLED PODCAST WITH AMY NICHOLSON AND PAUL SCHEER LIVE: IS AFI SCARED OF HORROR?
Live Show
Hosts: Amy Nicholson, Paul Scheer
Any group that loves movies shouldn’t be afraid of the dark. Yet, though the AFI’s current Top 100 Films list celebrates gory war flicks, it gets squeamish about horror. “Unspooled” podcast co-hosts Paul Scheer (“How Did This Get Made?”) and Amy Nicholson (“The Canon,” “Halloween Unmasked”) are halfway through watching the AFI’s ranked classics and ready to debate which chills should slither onto the next list. Join them and special guests Sam Zimmerman (Shudder) and Phil Nobile Jr. (Fangoria) for a conversation that isn’t scared to say what other films need to be murdered to make room.
WE SOLD OUR SOULS LIVE
Live Show
Creator, Writer, Performer: Grady Hendrix
Heavy metal — the subject of Congressional hearings, its albums burned by church groups, taken to court and accused of playing a role in teen suicides again and again…that’s a whole lot of fear over music sung by men wearing too much eye shadow. But heavy metal has always been about horror, and in this one-hour show, author Grady Hendrix will talk about the scandalicious side of heavy metal, its role in the Satanic Panic of the Eighties, the history of heavy metal in horror, and how all this mayhem led to the creation of his latest novel We Sold Our Souls.
VISITATIONS WITH ELIJAH WOOD & DANIEL NOAH LIVE
Live Show
Hosts: Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah
Boundary-breaking indie production company SpectreVision—partners Daniel Noah, Josh Waller, Lisa Whalen, and Elijah Wood—has given the world game-changing horror films like A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and Mandy. Now, Wood and Noah invite listeners to join them as they drop in on creative friends and colleagues for informal conversations about their lives and work at locations of their subjects’ choosing—at their homes, on set, or in their personal workshops—in their new podcast, Visitations with Elijah Wood & Daniel Noah. Hear Daniel, Elijah and their very special guest Casper Kelly, Writer/Director of “Too Many Cooks,” Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell and Mandy’s “Cheddar Goblin, in an exclusive live conversation ahead of the ten-episode Shudder Original Podcast coming this summer.
WOLVES IN THE WALLS: IT’S ALL OVER
Virtual Reality Experience
Director: Pete Billington, Jessica Yaffa Shamash
This exquisitely crafted animated experience, adapted from Neil Gaiman’s original story, and choreographed by heralded immersive theater company Third Rail Projects, casts you as an active participant in this massively expanded edition of the prologue showcased to great acclaim at last year’s Overlook. Available exclusively for All-Access and Platinum Immersive Pass holders in the Kickstarter Lounge